What is happening?!?!?!?!

Lately, LBM and LM have been absolutely unbelievable, in terms of sleep.  Or lack thereof.

First issue:
Naps
WTH is going on with them?  Last Friday, after nursing them in the morning and then putting them in their cribs as per usual, LBM flipped out and I basically had to hold him until the next feeding, which was 3 hours later!  He cried everytime I put him down and didn't want to play at all.  He just wanted to be held.  Which is fine, but is also tres exhausting. 

I tried to 'nap train' LM yesterday by letting him cry it out.  I think I might have damaged him.  Crying it out is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.  It may work for some people but I can NOT do it.  And I refuse to.  it is absolutely ridiculous.  How do you listen to your child crying hysterically and ignore it?  I let him cry for 20 minutes and as it continued to escalate (and NOT slow down, as all of those theorists claim, yeah right... ugh), I finally went in the room and tried to soothe him by not picking him up (as all of those theorists say, yeah right... ugh) but that made things worse.  So I picked him up and begged for forgiveness.  I won't do it again.  It's dumb.

Naps have been lasting maybe 30-45 minutes and I have to hold them and rock them until they will sleep. It is very tiring and I don't think I can continue that at all.  I decided today that I would start the day for them after the first morning feed, at 630am and I took them down to the living room and put them in their rockers.  No word of a lie, LM started rubbing his eyes at 7am and LBM started at 7:05am.  I put LM in his crib immediately and went back down to play/read (the newspaper ha!) with LBM.  When LBM started rubbing his eyes, I brought him up too.  I fully expected him to scream like last week but he didn't!  He took his blanket and chilled out.  LM was still awake, blanket right over his head, but no matter, he was playing by himself and getting sleepy.  It is now 8:05am and completely quiet.  I know they're sleeping, I just hope it lasts for the next couple of hours.  They must be exhausted.  Because of last night....

Sleep at night
WTH is happening with this?!?!?  It is driving me crazy.  LBM, ever since he discovered his voice (which, btw, is a shriek and a very loud one, at that!) seems to be crying a little more.  Or at least it feels like more because it's so damn loud.  LBM MUST be held until he falls asleep.  If I put him down awake but sleepy, he wakes up and I have to start the process all over again.  And it takes FOREVER.  Anyway, my husband can't even help me because the boyz don't seem to be able to get comfortable in his arms.  Which is a horrible feeling for him and a horrible situation for me.  Saturday night, LBM actually turned and moved his body towards me from my husband's and I had to hold both of them until they fell asleep. Yes, I was dying, I had to get hubby to save me. 

Last night, LBM cried for so long, I don't even remember exactly what happened.  Oh, we tried a new technique -- low lights, reading books, calm environment.  Then you're supposed to put them down and they should be calm.  Yeah right.  Try hysterical screaming.  And I'm telling you, this is TOTALLY new.  This never happened before! They would just go to sleep!  This weekend though, they went batshit crazy.

I am hoping that they were overtired, which is why they were so uncomfortable.  I have noticed that if they have better naps during the day, they are more apt to go to bed at night a lot easier.  And they seem to sleep longer too.

So last night, instead of sleeping until 3:30 or 4am, they woke up at 12:30am (which means I didn't have to pump!), 4:30am and then finally up at 6:30am.  Why is this happening?

I need helppppppppppppppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!